All For One
by xxxNightshadow
Summary: Who ever said "try try and try again" was on serious crack. It doesn't work like that in the real world. TalaxOC AU
1. Chapter 1

**All For One**

By: xxxnightshadow

Hi! Okay so, the 411 on this story is that it's been a daydream in head for god knows how long. I think it started when I watch an episode of House...or it could have CSI. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to write something with Tala in it cause he's been a favorite of mine for the last couple weeks. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

**Summary: **_Kira Demidova was born with a weak heart. She's been to the hospital in and out so many times that it's her second home. But when a dying girl ends up saving Kira's life, her whole world is turned upside down. Now, she's suddenly thrown into a whole new town, into a new home, and a new school. Will she be able to block out the past and start over with fresh new heart? She's willing to give it her all to make sure the past stays in the past. _

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**Chapter One**  
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You know that saying, "Things always go from bad to worse before they get better?" In my life, the "before they get better" part doesn't exist. You can take your eraser and just scrub that part off. Now, you're left with "things always go from bad to worse." Now _that_ sounds more like my life.

Don't get me wrong though. It's not like I'm a pessimist or anything. It's actually the opposite. I'm really quite the optimist. It's just; I'm not the one who planned all this. In fact, I had no say in anything. You could blame my workaholic, neglectful, under-worried, parents for the mess that happened. _They're _the ones who decided to up and move into a new town. _They're_ the ones who decided that their only daughter was ready to go into a public school full of gang members and druggies. For people who are usually really thorough, my parents didn't do much of a back-round check on that school.

And so, after 3 months of constant phone calls, detentions, frames, and punishments for things I swear I didn't do, my parents shipped me off to a private school. Windfair Day School to be exact. Yes, I do know it sounds like a pre-school.

Now, I know what you're thinking. What in the 7 hells is this girl talking about?

It's simply.

My name's Kira Demidova. And I stole someone's heart.

* * *

It all started that day in the hospital about 6 months ago. It was towards the end of my freshman year. I woke extremely dizzy and tired. I couldn't speak or move. Every little motion caused pain to flood through my whole body. The doctors started to panic and think, "This was it. She's going to die now." Unfortunately, my parents and I thought that too. And as my heart started to feel like someone was squeezing it with all their strength, and as my fingers started to lose their feeling, I thought_, if I got a second chance, I wouldn't be the person who I was. I would be a brand new, better person._P

I guess God listened to me, or pitied me, or blessed me, because as they were moving me into surgery, a girl on a stretcher came bursting through the doors of the emergency room. She was around my age, with long blonde hair and a thin body. And most importantly, she was covered in blood with a huge gash on her head. Time slowed down and now that I look back on it, I can't really remember what happened. Most of the memories were a lot of shouting, crying and the pale, bluish tinge to the girl's skin.

The next thing I knew, I was inside ICU. My eyes cracked open to see a nurse staring at me. I had always called her Nurse Ratched-just like the one from that movie. She turned and walked out of the room, only to return with a doctor I remember vaguely seeing somewhere. He told me that my weak heart was gone and that I was all better. At first I didn't get what he was talking about until I moved and a sharp pain crashed over me. Pulling the hospital gown to the side, I saw something that made me freeze.

There, on the pale skin above my heart was a thin, pink, scar. I jerked my head up to him and asked what had happened. He told me that I had gotten a heart transplant. His voice was starting to fade away. I remember thinking that that wasn't possible. I was in the middle of the transplant list, with a whole bunch of people before me. But the doctor said that the girl who had been on the stretcher had a match to me, and it was her heart that had been taken. Now his voice was really gone. I didn't hear the rest of what he said.

The only thought that kept playing in my head was: If it was that girl's heart that had been taken, it meant that she was dead. Gone from this world, and never to be seen again.

* * *

After a few weeks of going to physical therapy and other recovery programs, my parents said, "Okay. This town has proven to be a disaster area. Let's get out here right now." That's how my life turned upside down. As much as I wanted things to change, this wasn't how I planned it to happen.

I'll explain that you at some point or another.

My new house was pretty big. With my mother being an interior designer, and my father being a famous art dealer, I wasn't surprised to see the large villa. The outside was painted a bright white with a 2-car garage and driveway. Fancy bushes and plants outlined the walkway to the steps. From the side of the house, you could see balconies. Inside, my mother had a golden theme going on, with gold and goldenrod curtains and mahogany wood tables.

I didn't really get to appreciate it much, because the next day, I was sent to my first day at the public school. (Remember? The one with the druggies I told you about in the beginning?) After those three months, I'm surprised I lived. So, off to Windfair it was!

And that leaves us to present day. My first day as a sophomore. Whoop-di-freaking-doo.

The hallways were filled with laughter and chatter as I walked down them. There were many groups of teenagers hanging out in the hallways, waiting for the first bell to ring. Even though it was a new year, you wouldn't have thought that on first glance.

Cliques were already forming and people were becoming friends fast. I could feel my light blue eyes gazing over the groups that I hopefully would belong to one day or another. It was normal wasn't it, for the new girl to wish she knew someone in this huge school?

Looking closely, I could see that the uniforms here weren't taken too seriously. The boys had white, button up shirts with dark blue ties. Black pants and shoes topped it off. The girls basically had the same idea, only the pants where plaid, dark blue skirts. But, the sleeves were pushed up the elbows, and ties were loosened.

Sighing and shaking my light brown hair out of my eyes, I trudged my way to the English wing.

"I'm Ms. Fein. You're new English teacher. Since I was a drama major back in collage, you can expect to do a lot of interactive and improving things in this class. We'll take it easy today and just introduce ourselves. Just say your name and what you did over the summer." Ms. Fein was an average height woman with short, curly dark brown hair. She was slim with a kind smile, but a slightly nasal voice.

A collective groan rang out from the sophomores in the class. "Do we have to?" a boy with odd, blood red hair asked warily from the seat in front of me. They were twin bangs hanging around his icy blue eyes. Ms. Fein's answer "yes" was firm and steady. Sighing, student after student went. I basically froze. What the heck was I supposed to say? _"Hi my name's Kira and I got my heart switched with a girl who died in car crash?"_ Yea, that would go down great.

At one point it got to a girl with a short, light pink hair got up. She had a pair of black goggles on her head, and a shy facade. "My name's Mathilda." The girl said in a quite voice. "Over the summer, I was at a sleep away camp in Maine." She seemed nice enough.

But then again, my social skills have been down for the last couple of months due to unseen events. *cough*weak heart*cough*

At this, a girl in the back, and the boy with red hair let out a whistle and cheered a bit. Mathilda smiled a bit before she quickly sat down. The boy with the red hair got up and said, "The name's Tala Ivanov, and I was at same sleep away as Mathilda." He grinned over the pink-haired girl and the other girl in the back. From what I could feel about this guy was that he was those jockey type-the one who was popular and probably was a captain of a sports team.

Suddenly, everyone's eyes were on me. Slowly I got up and said, "Hey. I'm Kira Demidova and over the summer, I moved here." Ms. Fein smiled at me. "New in town huh? I bet Windfair is much different from your old school." Oh boy did I want to laugh at that. Compared to the druggie-filled, gangbangers, and criminal school that I used to go to, Windfair was military school. Even with the sloppy uniforms. But instead of saying that, I gave a small smile and nodded, and then sat down.

When the girl in the back got up, I saw that she who had been cheering before. She gave a bright smile and said boldly, "Julia. And I was at the same sleep away camp and Tala and Mathy." I rested my cheek in my palm and guessed that Mathy was her nickname for Mathilda. She had light brown bangs with darker brown hair.

I turned my eyes back to Ms. Fein and as I did, I caught Tala giving me a look. It didn't look like it was mean or anything, just curious.

But before I could bat an eyelash, he turned his focus on Ms. Fein too. I blinked at him. What was that about? Shrugging it off, I waited for the rest of the period to go by.

I closed the locker door a little too hard, causing the freshman standing next to me to jump a little. I had lunch now and but I wasn't exactly hungry. Instead, I made my way towards the gym teacher's office. They would know who the captains are for all the sports teams.

Knocking on the door, a faint "come in" was heard and I pushed the door open. A man about 40 years of age was sitting behind a desk covered in papers, and game books. The bulletin board behind him was filled newspaper clippings and medals. "What can I do for you?" he asked in a pretty deep voice. "Um, are you Coach Barthez?"

(Let's not tell him that I only knew his name because of the sign on the door)

He nodded his head and I grinned. "Cool. Um, do you when the girls' soccer tryouts are?" He shook his head. "You're going to have to ask Julia. She's the captain of the team." You nodded thanks and left the room. Julia? As in the one that's in my English class? Shrugging, I figured I'd catch her at the end of the day, and headed towards the library.

I didn't exactly want to face the pick-a-lunch-table-and-sit-with-them drama yet.

* * *

"Julia!"

The brown haired girl spun around so fast I thought she was going to get whiplash. Her eyes brightened when she recognized me. "Hey! You're Kira right?" I nodded my head. "So what's up?" she asked and leaned against the lockers. "Barthez told me you're the captain of the girls' soccer team." She nodded her head proudly. "That's right!"

Pausing a little, I asked her, "So when are the tryouts for this year?" She blinked before saying, "You thinking about joining?" I nodded my head. She grinned. "That's great! All the girl captains have been pushing for the girls to join something. Actually, the tryouts are this Friday, on the field. I'll make an announcement when I get the time."

Sighing with relief, I told her I'd be there. She gave me a smile before turning to go back to a group of kids at the end of the hallway. I recognized Tala and Mathilda, but that was about it. There was a boy with two-toned hair and a scowl painted on his face, and a girl with a sport of bright, pink hair. She was bouncing up and down on her toes at something Mathilda had said.

For once, things were going as I wanted them to go. It had been a long time since that happened. And as I head homebound, I realized that my little plan of being a better person might just come true. And my other little promise that I had made to the girl my heart belonged to might come true too. Things may just look up for once.

_Always famous last freaking words._

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So what do you guys think? You like it? And don't worry, even though it's a bit confusing in the beginning, it'll start making sense in no time. =] I promise *crosses heart* This is basically a prologe to the story. The real main plot and everything will start up in the next chapter. Bye for now! Oh and don't forget to message/review!


	2. Chapter 2

**All For One**

xxxnightshadow

**Summary: **_Kira Demidova was born with a weak heart. She's been to the hospital in and out so many times that it's her second home. But when a dying girl ends up saving Kira's life, her whole world is turned upside down. Now, she's suddenly thrown into a whole new town, into a new home, and a new school. Will she be able to block out the past and start over with fresh new heart? She's willing to give it her all to make sure the past stays in the past. _

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* * *

**Chapter Two**  
_

Tilting my head, I turned up the stereo and Lostprophet's _Shinobi _started to blast from the speakers.

It was Friday morning, and my house was completely and utterly quite. And the reason it was quite is because the house was empty save for me. At first, I had thought my parents were still sleeping, but when I had to look by the front door, I saw that their keys weren't on the hook.

And that's why I ended up in the living room, a half an hour before I had to go to school, blasting the stereo. I hated a soundless house. Ever since I was little I hated a quite house. The silence that echoed throughout my home always meant that I was alone and guess what?

I hated to be alone.

I opened up the medicine closet in the kitchen, and pulled out my anti-rejection meds. Then pouring myself a glass of water, I swallowed the pink and tan pills down. You'd after taking the same pills everyday for 3 months or so, you'd get used to the taste, but you really don't.

On the other hand, knowing that your body might try to fight the heart, you sucked up the bitter taste and dealt with it. After eating an apple and few blueberries, I wondered up to my room to get my things for school. My room was fairly large with a sliding door on the far wall that led to a balcony. The walls were a golden color, and the bedspread and curtains were a metallic red.

From here, you could still hear the music playing loudly. Hope the neighbors don't mind. _Pfft_.

My bag lay over by the dresser and as I went to pick it up, I caught myself looking in the mirror. The girl looking back at me had wavy, light brown that reached her elbows. Her light blue eyes were tired and outlined with black eyeliner. Her body was petite and dressed up in the school uniform. Shaking my head, I grabbed my bag and a smaller one that had my cleats and gym clothes in them.

That girl in the mirror didn't look like the star-soccer player that she once was. Before closing the main door, I turned off the stereo and started my walk to school. It was a clear day, one that would be perfect for the tryouts. Gripping the bag with the cleats, I dug out my cell phone from the bag.

I called up my mom's office and her secretary picked up. "Hey Mary, it's me. Can you pass me through to my mom?" A black sports car wizzed by stirring up the leaves on the ground and ruffling the skirt of my uniform. "Sorry hun, she's in a meeting right now. Want me to leave a message?" She replied.

"Mmm. Can you please tell her that I'll be coming late cause I've got soccer try outs?" She said she would I hung up. Dropping the phone back into the bag, my thoughts started drifting when I first found out how weak my heart was.

They had told me that I had needed to play something to keep my heart stronger than it was. I needed to keep active in order to make sure it didn't keep stopping. So, I had taken up soccer. As it turns out, I fell in love with it. Not only did it keep my heart strong, but since the practices would end late, I didn't have to go home to an empty house. (back then, my parents would be home by the time I got back.)

I had pushed my way into the captain's chair and had been thinking about joining the junior varsity team when I got in the high school. But before the season came around, my heart started having problems. I was in and out of the hospital throughout my freshman year and I basically was hospitalized by the end of it. As they were moving into surgery that day when I got my transplant, I thought, _if I live, I'm probably never going to play again. _

And yet, here I am, on my way to school and facing tryouts. After I had gotten to school, I quickly ran to gym locker room and stuck my cleats into my locker. Then, I walked to English.

* * *

Swallowing the lump that formed in my throat, I pushed the cafeteria doors open. Even though school had started 3 days ago, this was my first time going to cafeteria during lunch. I'd chickened out the second day to go in, and stayed in the library getting a head start on homework. I grabbed a tray and got a salad. Just my eyes started to scan for a seat, a voice called, "Kira!" Turning around, I saw Julia waving towards me near the center of the room. "Come here she called!"

Beyond relief, I made my way over to her table. Feeling a prickly feeling behind my neck, I realized that someone was staring at me as I walked. As the feeling got worse, I realized it was it wasn't because some_one_ was looking at me, but because the whole freaking cafeteria was staring at me.

Apparently my eating Julia, Mathilda, and the others, was like a social taboo in this school.

Sitting down next to Mathilda, and giving her a smile, I noticed the girl with bright pink hair was there too. She was talking to Mathilda. Hilary, who in Chem with me next period was there . "Hey Hilary," I greeted the brown haired girl as I poured in the dressing.

Ranch dressing is good people. _Very good._

She had a bite in her mouth so she smiled and waved. Swallowing, she said, "Hey Kira! Ready for another pointless period of Chem?" She asked. I mocked frowned and add in sarcastically, "How you could you say that? We're always going to need the formulas for morality and moles." She laughed which caught the pink haired girl's attention. Turning to me to, a look of confusion crossed over her face.

It clearly said, "What are you doing here?"

But it passed quickly at Julia's jab in the elbow. "Hey I'm Mariah!" she said quickly, and waved. I waved back and I said that I was Kira Demidova. She raised an eyebrow before turning to Mathilda and said, "Great. Another Russaian." This time, I frowned for real. What was wrong with being Russian? My grandparents would let me forget for a second that I was a pure blood when they came to visit from the icy country. I was pretty damn proud of it too.

Hilary must have noticed my frown because she said, "A bunch of the guys are Russian and won't let anyone forget it. They're so stubborn about it, it's pretty freaky actually." I nodded my head in agreement to that, thinking about my grandparents.

Julia faced me, suddenly all serious. "Okay so the reason why I wanted you here was to tell you that practice is out on the soccer field at 3:00 sharp. Change into gym clothes and all that jazz. You've got cleats right?" I nodded my head and started to feel a bubble of excitement in my stomach growing.

"Then you're good to go. Oh and by the way, Hilary, Mariah, and Mathilda are trying out too." Now that was a surprise. You turned to them with raised brows. "Seriously?" Mariah nodded. "We were on the team last year too, but we have to tryout again to make it fair. Hopefully, the new team will be just like last year's."

A small, but sad looking smile formed over Hilary's lips. "Last year's team huh?"

Suddenly, a cold wave passed over the table. I couldn't help but notice that every girl stared down at their tray, and seemed to become a bit moody. _That must have been a sore spot. _I thought as I tried to think of a way to distract everyone. "So who exactly are those guys you were talking about before?"

Julia seemed to snap out of it first before she said, "Oh you know. Tala, Kai, and the others. Most of them are on the boys' soccer team." I nodded my head to say that I knew who she was talking about, but in reality, only Tala's name rang a bell. Mariah let out a gasp and jumped up. "I totally forgot that I have to get my English teacher to sign my permission slip." She grabbed her stuff and started to bolt out the cafeteria's doors. "I'll catch you guys later!"

Laughing, we waved her goodbye, and stood up to go ourselves. Waving bye to the other girls as the bell rang, I wanted to spin on the spot and do a little happy dance. Can you blame me though? I'm starting to make friends!

* * *

After rushing out of my last period class, I raced to the girl's locker room. When I made my way to my locker, I bumped into Hilary. "Kira." She said with a big smile. I waved at her before pulling at the lock on my locker door. "Ready to go?" I asked changing out of my uniform. She nodded her head as she bent down to tie her cleats.

While she did that, I quickly pulled my gym shirt over my head. I didn't want Hilary seeing the scar from the transplant. Not yet away. As a matter of fact, I don't think I was ready to let anyone know about the transplant yet. I wanted to have a normal school year without people knowing that my heart sucked and I got it completely removed.

Telling them that would have to mean I would have to tell them about Adrian di Roma. She was the one whose heart was switched up with mine. I had called up my doctor the day before to ask about her, and though he couldn't tell me much due to legal complications, he did give me a name.

Adrian di Roma. Adrian of Rome. She was obviously Italian, and it turned out she had played soccer too. That made the guilty feeling in the back my neck throb.

On the way to field, we ran into Mathilda and Mariah. They were on their way to the field too, and we walked together. Shaking off the feelings from before, I tried to pay attention to my surroundings. The day was just as good as it was this morning, and there were other girls at the field. Julia waved her hand and blew into a whistle. "Okay guys let's get warmed up first. We'll run two laps around the field, and then start the stretches."

The other girls groaned at the mention of running, but I quickly started. It had been a long time since I got to do anything athletic and I wanted to get rid of all the bed resting that I had to go through. The familiar "thump" sound on the ground bought back tons of my old days, and it got me thinking.

I started thinking about why the others had gotten so depressed when last year was mentioned. I guessed something bad must have happened for them to make such faces. Maybe they lost an important game or something? I just hoped that whatever had happened didn't make a big impact on this year.

A new team means a new start right? Hopefully I wasn't the only the one thinking that. The laps passed by quickly and soon we were doing drills with the soccer balls under Julia's lead. I was surprised to see that Mariah, Mathilda, and Hilary were really pretty good. Then again, they had been on the team last year so that must be true. Not wanting to fall behind, I stepped it up.

With all the Zigg-zagging through the cones, passes, and free shots at the goals, my body started to fall back on the way I used to play. If I kept this up, my body was going to just like the way it was before it started to get messed up. Only this time, I don't have a weak heart so I could play as hard as I wanted.

At the thought of that, I couldn't stop the slow grin that wanted to tug at my lips. _No more weak heart. _A burst of energy caused me to slam the ball into the net. "Nice shot Kira!" Julia shouted from the sidelines. I waved over at her before getting at the end of the line. As I waited for my next turn, I noticed that the boys' soccer team was finishing up on the far side of the field.

I instantly found Tala with his red hair, and a few others were familiar too. But most of them were too far away to see the details. They started to do some stretches and laps to cool down too. Realizing it was my turn again, I slammed the ball into the net again, and started to do some stretches to cool down.

As I did them, Mathilda and Mariah came to join me. Hilary was talking to a freshman who had stumbled over the ball and fell. "You're amazing!" Mariah said as she leaned over to the side. A hot flush washed over the back of my neck. "I'm not that good."

Mathilda pulled at her arms and shook her head. A shy blush covered her cheeks as she said, "No really. You're so going to make the team." Smiling, I thanked them both before walking to the locker rooms with them. I spun around backwards to face Hilary who was still helping the freshman. "Hey Hilary, we'll meet you at the locker room!" She waved to indicate she heard me.

As I spun back around, I caught wind of Mariah's "Watch out," but ended up slamming into someone anyway. Just as I was about to fall, a hand caught my wrist and jerked me back up. Sheepishly I started to apologize, but instead of finishing it, I gasped.

There stood a guy about 4 or 5 inches taller than me. He had light lavender eyes and green eyes wide in shock. The already white skin of the Russian boy had gotten pale, just like mine. There didn't seem to be a pound of fat on him-just lean muscle. And he looked all too familiar.

"B-Bryan?!" I sputtered. He looked like he wanted to rub his eyes as if he was seeing things. "Kira?!"

And then, "What are you doing here," came from both of us. There was a second of a pause before we both said at the same time again, "I go here!"

There was another pause. I think a little daze that had fallen over me cause I couldn't stop staring at him. There he was. Bryan Kuznetsov. It's a wonder what two years does to a person. And then he said, "Ah, fuck." It snapped me out of my trance and I pretty much did everything but knock him down to the ground.

"For Christ's sake get off Rara!" he yelped. I wanted to cry at the sound of my old nickname. "No." I said back stubbornly. I buried my head into the crook of his neck, and wrapped my arms around him, just like back then. He heaved a sigh before he ruffled my hair. "You got taller. I'll give you that." His voice was quite, and deeper than I remembered it. I pulled back and poked his cheek. His face was a mix of amusement and shock.

"And you got rid of all that baby fat." He eyes narrowed mockingly at that. "What baby fat?" Giving him a knowing look I said, "Oh I think you know perfectly well." Before he could come back, someone cleared their throat loudly. I yelped and let go of Bryan. Mathilda had bit down on her the pad of her thumb, something I noticed she did when she was surprised or nervous, and Mariah's eyebrows were raised so high I thought they get lost in her hairline.

There was another boy there with them, the one that I seen Julia and the others with on the first day of school, and Tala. The first boy had messy duel colored hair with twin, blue shark fins on his cheeks. He was dressed similar to Bryan, and his expression was totally indifferent. On the left sleeve of his arm, _Kai_ _Hiwatari_ was sewed in black letters with _09_ written under it. Oh. So his name was Kai. I guessed that he must be the Kai that Julia mentioned at lunch.

Tala's blue eyes were gleaming with curiosity. He wore the same thing as the others, only his was all black. _Tala Ivanov_ and _01_ were written in white on the right sleeve. A small smirk covered his lips as he tilted head to the side. "I take you know each other?" he asked. His voice was holding back laughter.

Tala in my head deemed as the smart ass. You know the one who always talked back, and made snide remarks in class. He was the one who wanted all the attention-all the time. For some reason though, Mrs. Fein, my English teacher, loved him. In class, it was "Tala this," and "Tala that." Honestly, I think it's annoying.

Before I could say anything, Bryan heaved a sigh and said, "Yea. She's my supposed to-be-dead-in-a-ditch baby cousin." _That _caused a reaction. While the others stared with confused looks, I gave a fake laugh and grin while jabbing Bryan in the ribs. He grunted in surprise before saying, "Screw you."

Shooting him a look, I told the others that he was just kidding and it was an inside joke between us. Hilary ran up to us just then, she paused to give me and Bryan a confused look, say hi to the boys and then dragged Mathilda and Mariah off, yelling "My mom just called me saying she's here to pick us up. Hurry up!" The boy's coach also yelled at the boys to get moving so Tala and Kai started to run ahead.

Bryan hung back though. "Seriously, what the hell are you doing here?" I looked up at him, squinting in the sunlight. "I told you. I go here. I moved here about a week ago." Bryan didn't say anything, so I kept going. "I got a heart transplant done a few months, and mom and dad decided to up and move. Now here I am. I thought you were supposed to be in military school."

Bryan stared at me. His green eyes were narrowed and he looked pissed. "How can you just brush off getting a heart surgery like it's nothing? And FYI, my dad _did_ ship me off. Mom got me switched back here this year." I twisted the hem of my shirt. I didn't like thinking about the transplant. I especially did not want to think of Adrian on the stretcher, and I didn't want to think of how I stole her heart.

"Look. I really don't want to talk about it. I don't know most of it myself. Just don't tell anyone okay?" I looked my cousin with pleading eyes. "Please Bry? I'm not sure I want people to know about the transplant or that I had a weak heart." He blinked at me for a moment before ruffling my hair. "If that's what you want. Wait for me by the front gate and we'll take a walk."

He was about to start to jog again before I tackled him once more. "I missed you." I mumbled. "Christ Rara, if you keep this up and people are gunna get the wrong idea." I laughed at that before I let him go. "See ya." I made why back to the locker room and started to change back into my uniform.

Hilary must have speed changed with the other girls because they weren't in the locker room or outside when I got there. Straightening out my uniform once more, I added a hop to my steps as I wandered by the gate. Bryan was here! I was nearly laughing with glee.

Bryan was my cousin from my dad's side of the family. His dad and my dad were brothers. But since they were constantly fighting, they didn't talk or see each other much. That pretty much meant me and Bryan didn't see each other a lot either. But every time we did, we would always have a blast. The last time I saw him two years ago when I was at the hospital because of a sudden heart failure.

My aunt and my uncle (his mom and dad) came to visit and say hi. Later that day, Bryan and I had sunk out and played soccer one-on-one. We played until we got busted by one the nurses and we ran back to the room laughing. The smile on my dimmed a little as I realized that Bryan must have been sent to military school shortly after that if he had switched back to Windfair this year.

I think I must have jumped half a mile when a hand tapped my shoulder. Bryan's laugh followed after. A thought flashed in my head as I smothered a chuckle. Gripping my heart, I spun around and gasped. "My heart!" Bryan's look of amusement turned to panic in a second as he grabbed my shoulders.

"Holy crap!" He yelled as I faked a wheezing cough. But the cough turned into a chuckle which led to a laugh. "Look! I can joke about it now!" Green orbs narrowed at me and then Bryan smacked me in the head. Wincing, I mumbled an "ow" and he said, "Do NOT do that again!" I simply stuck my tongue out at him and together we started walking.

I broke the silence between us by saying, "So where exactly do you live?" He told me and I realized it wasn't too far from me. I told him where I live and he blinked at me. "You don't say." A black car suddenly pulled up, and the driver's side of the window rolled down. Tala peered up at Bryan and said, "You need a ride?" Next to him, I could see Kai shoving a black CD into the stereo.

_Faster the Chase_ by InMe filled the air as Bryan told him no, and when Kai asked why, I leaned around the purple haired boy, and waved.

Tala tilted his head and went "Oh. The zombie cousin." I gave him a deadpan look. "You didn't seriously just say that did you?" Tala smirked. "And if I did?"

I shook my head. "In order for me to be a zombie, I need to have died. I never did." I didn't add in about all the times that I _almost_ did though. Kai growled from the passenger seat. "Stop flirting and let's go. We have to go get ready." Tala let out a chuckle as heat crept up from neck, turning my cheeks red.

"Later Bry." Tala and Kai called before driving off. Bryan gave the disappearing car a two finger salute and turned back to me. An amused look was painted on his face.

I frowned at him. "Oh, wipe that grin off your face before I do."

* * *

After Bryan walked me home and waved goodbye, I ran inside the house. The second I stepped into the kitchen, the phone starting to ring. Before I could say hello, my mother's voice cut through. "Start cleaning the house and cooking dinner for eight. We have people coming over tonight for dinner as a welcome to neighborhood greeting. I'll be home shortly." And then, she hung up.

I stared at the phone for a long moment before hanging up. That was my mother for ya. Straight to the point. Sighing, I did what she said and cleaned up the house. (not there was much to clean since the only rooms that were used were my room and the family room.)

I had started boiling the water to make pasta, when the front door slammed closed. Jumping, I saw my mother walk into the kitchen. "Hey mom!" I said brightly. I had gotten everything from my mother but her eyes. I had her brown hair, high cheekbones, and slim figure, but her eyes were green.

The blue orbs came from my dad. She looked me over before saying, "Go clean up. You like a mess." I blinked at her before I nodded and ran upstairs. I swear there was no pleasing that women. By the time I came down, she had finished cooking. I set up the table in the living room and shortly after my dad came home.

I wondered into the family room and started up my Playstation 2. I figured that if there were eight people coming over, some of them might be kids. Sighing I shoved in Tekken 4, and fell back onto the couch whishing I had something better to do on a Friday.

The doorbell rang around 8:00 and my mother shouted for me to get it. I slid in front of the door and pulled it wide open.

Tala's icy blue eyes blinked up in surprise at me.


	3. Chapter 3

**All For One**

By: xxxnightshadow

I know it seems cliché to blame school for my lack of updating, but I swear that that's the reason. SAT's are coming up, and everyone knows how _dreadful _those can be. I think it maybe only a matter of time before I say "screw it all, I'm moving to Hawaii!" But since that won't do, I'm just going to have beg you to bear with me as I try to update as soon as I can.

**Summary: **_Kira Demidova was born with a weak heart. She's been to the hospital in and out so many times that it's her second home. But when a dying girl ends up saving Kira's life, her whole world is turned upside down. Now, she's suddenly thrown into a whole new town, into a new home, and a new school. Will she be able to block out the past and start over with fresh new heart? She's willing to give it her all to make sure the past stays in the past. _

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* * *

  
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I must have blinked at least three times. The red haired boy stood in front of me, along with Kai, who had his arms crossed in front of him. "Hey guys," I managed to say as I stepped aside to let them into the foyer.

Two men and a woman followed after the boys and I closed the door behind them. The man had a dark blue hair and was messy-just like Kai's. He seemed to be laid back and relaxed. The black haired women had brown eyes and a nice smile. She looked nice, but I couldn't help the feeling that something was a bit off. Kai didn't look anything like her.

_Those must be Kai's parents_. I thought as my parents came into the foyer. The next man had a shock of black hair and was pretty tall. His eyes match Tala's, and I guessed he was the Russian's father.

"Alisa." My mother said has she hugged the black haired women. My dad shook hands with Kai's father whose name was Dimitri, and then with Stepan, who was Tala's father. I gave a small smile and a wave when they turned to me. Alisa and Dimitri seemed pretty friendly, so I wondered why their son turned out to be Windfair's ice king.

Stepan on the other hand…well let's just say if looks could kill. He didn't seem too thrilled about being here. I wondered why Tala's mother wasn't here? Maybe she was busy or something. I blinked at his back, and turned to my mother when she called me.

"Kira, why don't you show the boys the house while we go into the den?" My mother suggested. (But when it comes to my mother, it means: do-it-or-else-you're-busted.)

I shrugged as they turned around to leave. "We'll call you when it's time to eat." My father called over his shoulder. The mock smile on my face disappeared when I turned around. I finally noticed that the boys had changed since I saw them this morning. Tala had changed into a white polo and a pair of jeans. Kai had on a black, under amour shirt with dark-washed jeans.

Oh boy. No wonder they were Windfair's most popular guys. They looked _good._

"You guys don't really want a tour of the house, do you?" I asked warily, glancing around the large villa. Kai didn't make an indication of yes or no, but Tala asked, "Depends. Do you want to give one?" I shook your head, and lead them into the family room. My game of Tekken was still on, and it was paused just when my huge panda character was punching a girl's face.

The boys noticed the game right away and to my surprise, Kai asked, "Tekken?" I merely nodded and picked up the controller. I pushed the "X" button to start playing again, and the panda's fist sent the girl flying backwards. Tala let out a low whistle, "You're getting your butt kicked by an oversized teddy-bear."

I shot him a deadpan look. "_I'm_ the panda, O Smart One." To emphasize my point, I pressed a bunch of buttons, causing the panda to pick the girl up and throw her out the ring. The panda did a little victory dance as the game switched back to the character options. The boys fell on the large black sofas and leaned back.

Trying to play the good host, I turned to face them handing the controller to Kai. "You guys want to play?" He glanced at Tala who reached for the controller.

"Eh, sure why not?" He took the controller, and I stalked over to the case under the plasma screen.

"Don't press anything yet. I'm going to add in another controller so both of you can versus each other." Kai tilted his head, causing a few bangs to fall into his red eyes. "You're not playing?"

I blinked again. Wow. Didn't expect Kai to care. But I gave him a big grin before saying, "It wouldn't be fair if I played. I'd kick both your butts to Mars." Tala let out a chuckle. "Yea. Right. You're funny."

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're forgetting that this is my game. I used to play this all the time."

I fell back onto the reclining chair and watched the boys start up the new game. They started to play, and to my dismay, they were both pretty good. As Tala's character's fist connected to Kai's character's face, Tala said, "Bryan owns this game. We play it all the time at his house." I just made a face and leaned back onto the couch. I glanced around the newly furnished room. It looked as if it had been taken out of _Home and Decore. _It didn't have the same feel as my old house did, and I wrinkled my nose in distaste. Personally, I thought it was useless to have a family room. There wasn't really any point in having one when there wasn't a family to share the room in.

I don't mean to keep bringing that up though. It's just… it wasn't always this way. When I was little, my parents used to be home a lot. We went on picnics and everything. It was happy and bright and all that good stuff. But when I entered middle school, the fights started up. Mom kept accusing dad of cheating on her, and dad would accuse her right back

Then it was about bills and then it moved onto me. My parents were fed up with the constant doctor check-ups and medicine prescriptions. I tried to rely on myself most of the time, so I wouldn't bug them, but there's only so much a 10 year can do by herself. That was the year that I took up soccer.

I must have fallen into trance because when Tala called my name, I jerked up. "What?" I asked dumbly. Tala blinked at me, an amused look on his features. "You sure you don't want to play?"

I shrugged and said, "Eh what the heck?" Kai scooted over and Tala handed me his controller. "You lost?" I said mock surprise in my voice.

It was Tala's turn to shoot me a deadpanned look before I pushed the start button and the character options popped up.

Kai went for the Steve Fox guy, while I dove for the Panda. When the boys gave me a look, I gave them a cheesy wink. "What can I say? I have a fetish for oversized teddy bears." Tala barked out a laugh while the corners of Kai's lips twitched.

The game started up and we started to play. "I gotta hand it to you Kai," I said while Kai's character smashed the Panda's face in, "you're pretty good."

Kai's answer of "Hn" didn't really stop him from blocking my counterattack. The Panda's hot pink bracelet knocked Steve in the head. And so back and forth it went. I attacked, he attacked. Tala would throw in a few pieces of advice to both of us, and Kai and I would tell him to hush.

When my parents called us for dinner, I had lost against Kai, and was about to win against Tala.

"Hold on!" me and Tala both shouted, furiously pressing buttons to see who could knock off the last few points. Kai was now sitting the recliner that I had been in bemused with our antics.

"Kids come on!" Kai's mother's sudden holler startled me, and Tala used that to hit the few last points off.

The stupid Lei Wulong did his victory dance in front of my panda.

I stuck my tongue out at him as the three of us got up to get dinner. "You got lucky." I insisted. The blue-eyed Russian's look clearly said "Yea. Okay." My own blue eyes widened a little before I pressed on, "If she hadn't surprised me, I totally would have kicked your butt." Kai shook his head before walking ahead of our slow pace.

Me and Tala glanced at each other before running to him.

* * *

Dinner was…interesting. I ended up sitting in the middle between Kai and Tala. Stepan sat across from Tala and seemed to be glaring at him the whole time. Kai's parents fell into conversation with my own, and I was surprised to see my mother and father laughing here and there. There was something off about it though…

Me, Tala, and Kai didn't say much. We pretty much didn't talk unless we were spoken to. I think all three of us realized something was off in each family, but we didn't dare to voice it. When my father told me to pass the pasta to Stepan, I did so. And when he looked at me, I froze all over. His eyes were so cold and so icy. He muttered a "thank you" before grabbing the bowl away from me. I snapped out of it, and quickly looked down at the bowl. Tala must have noticed the little awkward moment, cause he suddenly said, "Hey Kira, Julia told me they're going to post up the new team on Monday." I glanced at him with raised eyebrows.

"Oh really?"

Tala nodded as Kai said, "Yes. They post it up way too fast."

Alisa looked at me, a smile tugging at her lips. "You're joining the soccer team too?" I nodded my head slowly. The nagging feeling was back.

"That's wonderful. Kai and Tala play too." She said, glancing at Kai. The duel-haired boy frowned at her before going back to picking at his bread. My mother, wanting to show off as usual, threw in, "Oh Kira's been playing since she could walk! Joined the team every year, she did." I glanced over at the two boys who sat with me. They were both looking down at their food, clearly tensed and at unease. Tala's normally relaxed eyes were narrowed, as were Kai's. The boys were practically radiating tension. They weren't anything like they were in the family room.

Suddenly wanting to cheer them up, I kicked Tala's chair. His head snapped up to glare at me, but the cold look vanished when I crossed my eyes at my mother's turned head. He then glanced down at my plate and raised an eyebrow. I raised my own, and looked down.

And nearly burst out laughing hysterically.

While was complimenting on how to cheer them up, I had mixed in my mashed potatoes with my gravy. The potatoes looked like a volcano, spitting out gravy as the lava. The peas were dunked in the liquid giving it an appearance of fried trees. Kai heard me and Tala snicker and turned his head to look at me.

I pointed down to my plate and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He didn't see the image. His confused look made Tala and I laugh a little. I looked up to see Tala still looking at my plate, and Kai shaking his head sadly. I think he was thinking about how pathetic we were.

It wonders me sometimes, how the two of them are friends. I mean, talk about opposites. Tala was the class clown. Acting out, laughing, making jokes, when Kai was totally clam, cold, and hardly said a word.

My mother's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I seemed to be dazing off a lot these days. I looked over at her apple green eyes. "Start clearing up, and bring the dessert to the den." She and the other adults got up to go, when Dimitri called over his shoulder, "Help her out boys!"

My father told him that it was unreal for the guests to have to work, but Tala and Kai made to help me anyway. I turned around only to have a pea get flicked at my head. Kai rolled his eyes when I flicked one back, and started to move to kitchen, a plate in each hand.

Ducking under the red-head's next attack, I slid in front of Kai and took the plates out of his hands. "I got this. You guys go back to playing Tekken." Kai shook his head and went to grab the plates, but I stepped back and shook my head.

I demanded, "Family room. Now." With that said, I bounded into the kitchen.

When I went back into the dining room, Tala and Kai still there, stacking up plates and moving the pots out of the way.

"Clearly you have to get your ears checked." I mused as Tala handed me a bunch of dishes. "It'll go faster with us helping you. I have to kick your butt in Tekken again." My jaw dropped as I hissed, "Not even in your dreams Red!"

Tala froze as did Kai. Their eyes snapped up to look at me and they were narrowed. I took a step back on reflex and my heart leapt to my throat. _Did I say something wrong? _

"Where'd you hear that name?" Tala said slowly. Kai was still staring at me as if I had grown two heads. I looked back at Tala, who was gaping at me. I shook my head, not understanding.

"Where did you hear that name!?" Tala all but shouted. I flinched a bit before biting back, "I didn't! It just slipped out!" Kai staring at me wasn't helping as the red-haired continued to gape at me. But his next words were spoken so softly, I didn't catch them. I'm guessing Tala did because he wordlessly stacked his plates onto mine, and moved with Kai to the family room.

I stared at their backs. Apparently, my brain couldn't process what just happened. My body slipped into auto-pilot so that all brain-functioning can figure out the situation. Before I knew it, I had cleaned off the whole table, wiped it down, and gave the dessert to the adults. I was now standing in the kitchen, still having no idea as to what happened.

I slowly reached up and flicked myself in the head, just like Bryan did when we were younger to get me out of my trances. I slowly walked to the room and saw that the boys had paused the game and were idly watching CSI on TV. Before any of us could open our mouths Kai's dad walked in with the others saying it was time to go.

The boys got up wordlessly, waved and walked out the door. The men shook hands, and my mother and Alisa hugged before they walked out too. When the door closed and sound of engines roared, my father turned his heel and went to his office, while my mother turned to me.

"Did you clean up the dining room?

"Yes mother."

"Then go to bed." She turned her heel and headed up to the master room without glancing back.

I heaved a sigh, and turned the TV off. Running up the stairs, I bounded into my bathroom, and changed into a big shirt and a pair of boy shorts. I jumped onto the bed and pulled the covers up close. Tala's shocked expression kept running in my head. _What was so bad about the name Red? _I wondered as started to slink into sleep.

Another dim thought ran in my head after that. _Maybe it has to do with the fact that the girls got upset during lunch today. Something about last year. _Call it being nosy, but I was going to find out.

* * *

Monday morning came too fast as I raced towards school. I was so late! I had forgotten to set my alarm the night before and awake to my neighbor's lawn being mowed. Bad idea staying up watching Disney's _Sinbad._

…Don't deny it. You know you love that movie.

Pretty sure I trampled over my mom's garden as I ran out of the house, I chanted _faster, faster_ to myself. A burning sensation ran through me as I forced my legs to move faster. It felt good.

Despite the thought be of being lectured on being late, I wanted to see the results of the try-outs.

_Faster faster_

A black car pulled up to my running form and slowed down. Tala's voice rang out to me as I whirled around to face it. "Get in." He said. Without pausing, I slid into the backseat next to Bryan. Tala sped up to go faster as I sat trying to catch my breath. My chest burned as I inhaled the sweet oxygen.

Bryan sent me a look that clearly had panic splayed out on it, thinking that I was having another attack. But Adrian's heart proved him wrong. I gave him a grin, my breath finally evened out.

Looking around the car, I noticed that Kai was driving with Tala in the front seat. Both Kai and Tala letting get a ride I guess meant that they weren't mad at me about Friday night.

And then a thought hit me. _Hang on. Didn't Tala normally drive…? _

I voiced this and to my surprise, Kai cracked a smile. Tala answered though, "I won a bet against Kai and he had let me drive his car." I raised an eyebrow about to ask what the best was, but got cut off when Bryan asked, "So what was the running about? You looked like you a pack of wolves behind you."

I smiled sheepishly as I told them I forgot to set my alarm and that I wanted to see the results for the tryouts. "You made it." Tala said breezily as he opened the window. I blinked at him, and said very smartly, "huh?"

He twisted in his seat to look at me. "You made the team." I raised an eyebrow and asked him how he knew. He shrugged and said that Hilary called him when she and the other captains met up on Sunday.

I clapped with glee and laughed. "Sweet!" Bryan smirked at me before ruffling up my hair.

"See? Told you you'd make it." I smiled at him as Kai pulled into the school's parking lot. Tala and I just made it to English as the bell rang. Mathilda waved at me as did Julia. 5 minutes into the period however, and Ms. Fein still hadn't shown up. Murmurs started to pass through the class as we debated on waiting for someone to show up or not.

Tala lazily stretched in front of me, saying how he hoped he got an off period. Silently agreeing with him, we were about to get up when our blonde haired teacher ran into the room. "Sorry Sorry!" She said airily as she dropped her bag onto the desk. "My dog attacked the worksheet I was going to give you today," she said as giggles and snickers came from the class, "and since it's ripped and torn and covered in dog saliva, I'm going to give you guys time to free read."

_As if that was going to happen._

Chatter started up as I turned to face Mathilda. She took Tala's seat in front of me as the red-head went up to go to talk a short boy named Ian. He looked familiar and I think I saw him on the day of the try-outs. I nodded my head towards him and Mathilda turned to look. "He's on the boys soccer team right?" I asked.

Mathilda nodded as Julia dropped into a seat next to me. "Yea. He's been on the soccer since 6th grade." The pink-haired stated. I nodded my head and turned to look at Julia. The said girl had been grinning ever since I walked in. "What's up with you?"

The brunette laughed and said, "Congrats on making the team! It's going to be great year!" I couldn't help but smile at that. I told her thanks and that it was going to be going year since Hilary and the others had made it as well. And then I just decided to ask them before I could back out of it later.

"Hey guys?" I started, dropping my voice low, "did anyone call Tala 'Red' at one point?" Since I was looking for it, I saw the shock and surprise flash the two girl's eye before they turned to me coolly. I was expecting this since it was the same thing that Tala and Kai had done the same.

"How did you know about that?" Julia asked, dropping her voice down lower. I just shrugged. "When Tala and Kai came over on Friday night for dinner, I accidently called Tala "Red" and him and Kai got all mad about it."

Mathilda and Julia glanced at each before Mathilda turned to me and in her soft said, "One of Tala's friends used to call him that." I nodded my head and waited for her continue. But after a long moment, Mathilda still didn't say anything. "That's it? A friend used to call him that?"

Julia simply shrugged and bent down to look for something in her backpack while Mathilda glanced uneasily at the said red-head's direction. I wanted to press them for more info, but they clearly didn't want to talk about it. So I heaved a sigh and changed the topic. _Well this is getting interesting. _I silently thought to myself as the period continued on.

I forgot about the whole "red" thing until practice later that day. I was telling Mathilda about why they had come over for dinner and how I had met Kai and Tala's parents. "Tala's mom wasn't there though." I said as stretched my legs. Mathilda replied in her soft voice, "That's because they're divorced. Tala switches living with mom and dad every week."

I stopped reaching down to my toes. "Oh. I didn't know that. That's gotta be hard though. Living in two houses." Mathila nodded her head sadly. "Tala was really mad about before, but I guess he just got used to it." The way she said that seemed a little off to me, but I put it off in the back of my mind. Julia called us over to start playing a mock game.

I was with Hilary, Mariah, a girl with long blue hair named Mariam. We were playing against Mathilda, Julia, a girl with long red hair named Salima, and girl with short orange hair named Emily. As we took our spots-me as a central defender- and once again, my body slipped back to the way it was before my heart attacks came in.

I couldn't help but smirk as the Emily came tearing up the field. She tried to pass me, but I ran towards her right side and slid to knock the ball out of her possession. Then leaping up, I took the ball for myself, running in the opposite direction in which Emily came from before she could figure out what happened. Kicking the ball to Mariah, who was playing as a midfielder, she ran forward and went to take the shot. Julia blocked it last second before she threw the ball far to Salima.

It went on like this for a while, and even though it was mock game, none of us were taking the game lightly. After about 45 minutes of playing, we finally called a brake. The score was 4-3 my team. We sat on the ground, laughing and talking.

If we played like this during a real game, there was no way we were going lose.

I stood up to get my water bottle and when I came back, I fell down next to Julia. "What's up?" I asked her. She gave a loud yawn before saying, "Call me crazy, but I'm glad to be back in school." I raised my eyebrow. "You _are _crazy." She laughed before replying, "I know I know. Who likes to be in school? But it's better than being at home."

I glanced at her. "Oh?" She nodded playing with a strand of grass. "My parents don't stop arguing. All they do is fight. It gets so loud and music can only drown out some much you know?"

My eyes widened. Her parents fought? Though I was shocked, I nodded my head sympathetically. I knew exactly what she was talking about. "It's like you just want to go up to them and scream so maybe they'd be so shocked that'd they stop fighting."

Julia glanced at me with a surprised look. "Yea! That's exactly it! It's like maybe then they'd realize how annoying it is."

I guess me and Julia had more in common than we thought. We sat there for the whole break talking about silly ways to get our parents to stop fighting. When we got up to play again, Julia looked a lot cheerier than she had all day. "You know Kira, I'd thought you'd be one to get this whole thing." She gestured her arm around as if to include what we were talking about.

"Everyone else would have just been like 'don't worry!' or "They'll stop soon enough.' Only they won't. I just know it. You're like the only one that thinks about actually doing something to stop them." She frowned at this though. "Only, no matter how many plans I come up with, I feel like I won't be able to stop them."

I couldn't stop the snort that came from me. Julia raised an eyebrow at this. "Please. Julia. You're one of the boldest people I've ever met before. You're probably more braver than Bryan and he's done pretty crazy things before. Between you and me, you're the one that's going to take the first step. Way before I ever will."

Julia looked at me steadily for a long moment. I shifted uneasily though. It was like she mentally comparing me to someone. Before I could ponder on it, she grabbed my hand and dragged me out onto the field. "Okay people! Break's over! We're finishing this game right here and now!"

The other girls cheered before drifting towards their spots. Before Julia went to the other side of the field, she glanced behind her back at me and said, "Thanks Kira." I could only nod my head as I watched her run to her team.

When I look back at this day, I should have realized have all the clues that could have avoided the disaster that was going to follow.

* * *

So hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I know there wasn't anything going on really, but I promise that the next one will be much better, and it will clear A LOT of things up. =]

but until then, please Rate and Review! 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, but I do own Kira and the plot line. That means All For One is copyrighted to xxxNightshadow. Don't steal.


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